


If You Love Me For Me

by LastHope



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Bad use of foreign language, Cliche High School AU, F/M, High School AU, Human Names Used, I wrote this a year ago don't judge me, Songfic, genderbends yeah gotta love not knowing how to tag this fandom with all these crazy iterations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-07 07:01:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/745653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastHope/pseuds/LastHope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was love at first sight. Now, if only they would realize that...</p>
            </blockquote>





	If You Love Me For Me

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a year ago don't judge me. No but, there might be some mistakes that I didn't catch, so just bear with me alright? If there's a problem with grammar/use of foreign language then let me know and I'll try to fix it. The foreign languages used are bits of Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. Most phrases have in text translations, but if there's something that wasn't translated, ask for it?  
> To be honest S.Italy/Japan seemed like a rarepair to me and I tried doing it. Did it as a het pairing because at the time I wrote this I still needed work on pairings/relationships in general.

It was as normal as a day could get for Honda Sakura- or, as she supposed she would have to start getting used to, ‘Sakura Honda’. You see, her father had gotten this huge promotion with the company he worked with. But, by him accepting the promotion, it meant that her family had to move from their nice, quaint home in busy Tokyo to…

New York. America. And they were living in an apartment, not a house, and it made her miss their oldhome back in Tokyo. Which, unfortunately, also made her miss her friends back in Japan. Yes, she could make new friends in America, but Sakura wasn’t very inclined to. She was quite partial to her friends back home, thank you very much, and she didn’t want to replace them!

However, that wasn’t the worse part. No, she had to attend an American school.

An American _public_ school. Where she was certain that she would get mocked for her accent and horrible English, no matter how many times she was assured her English was fine.

But… She was already standing outside the office of the school. In the school. There was no going back now. Sakura took a deep breath, and entered the room that would prelude her school year of hell.

Surprisingly, the school’s principal was very nice. A bit absentminded, and prone to ramble about who Sakura assumed were his grandkids, but nice. He had given Sakura her schedule for the first semester, given her a blasé rundown of school rules, and sent her on her way.

…

Without telling her where her first class was. Or, come to think of it, _any_ of her classes were.

Or if there was going to be a student guide to help her through this first day of public school.

Scratch what she said about the principal. He wasn’t a _bit_ absentminded, he was _very_ absentminded.

Sighing, Sakura resigned herself to a day of being lost- because, really, who had she been kidding when she had thought there was a chance of something being easy today?- when, just as she started to open the office door, it came slamming open, sending her to the ground.

Sakura let out a squeak as she hit the ground- thankful at the very least that she had took the initiative to wear pants and not the skirt that her mother wanted her to wear -and looked up to see who had been the cause of her fall.

And brown met green.

_Once a lass met a lad. “You're a gentle one,” said she. “In my heart I'd be glad, if you loved me for me.”  
You say your love is true, and I hope that it will be._

It was a boy. Short, mussed brown hair with an odd curl sticking out, tanned skin like he was from the Mediterranean, and olive green eyes. He had a surly look on his face, but it seemed to soften as he looked down on her, and he frowned a bit before holding out a hand.

Sakura was horrified to feel the heat of a blush rising on her cheeks. It took her a moment to realize that he was holding out the hand to help her up, and it took her another moment’s hesitation before she took his hand and allowed him to help her up.

“ _Mi dispiace, bella,”_ The boy said, and Sakura felt her blush that had been fading, return with fervor. What was he saying? She hadn’t learned any English that resembled that yet!

“ _Nani?”_ Sakura managed to choke out, and immediately wanted to slap herself afterwards. She was supposed to be speaking English, and here she was speaking Japanese! She felt even worse than before, and her blush didn’t have a hint leaving any time soon.

“Oh,” The boy’s face had some sort of emotion on it that Sakura couldn’t tell, but she thought she saw a bit of… embarrassment, maybe? …on it. “I’m sorry.”

And then she saw the matching blush on his face- one that wasn’t nearly as bad as Sakura’s own, but still there -and she felt a little better at her noticing that he had been embarrassed.

“You must be the new Japanese kid _Nonno’s_ been talking about nonstop.” Non-no? Who was that, Sakura wondered. Or what. “What was it…? Cherry Blossom?”

And the blush returned.

“Ahh, no.” Sakura tried to be nice, but felt her face flushing more at his frown. “I-I mean, it would translate to Cherry Blossom in your language, b-but my name is Sakura. Sakura Honda.” At least she remembered how to say her name right…

“Actually,” The boy was laughing, and Sakura wasn’t sure if it was because of her accent or not. “In my language, we’d say it as _ciliegio.”_ He paused for a moment before saying, “Well, for you, it’d be _Ciliegia.”_

Sakura was confused. And, as if sensing her confusion, the boy laughed.

“I’m Italian,” He explained. “Not American. Lovino Vargas. And before you ask, yeah, I’m related to the nut that’s our principal. Grandson.” Oh. That would explain why he looked relatively similar to the principal.

“It is nice to be meeting you, Vargas-san.” Sakura said automatically, and felt a hint of embarrassment when she said the boy’s- Lovino -last name and used honorifics. This was America, and she still couldn’t get the hang of saying people’s first names, and not using honorifics.

“Ah,” Lovino’s blush was back, and he was scratching at the back of his head nervously. “It’s just Lovino. And you can just say ‘It’s nice to meet you.’”

“Oh,” Sakura murmured blushing for what felt like the millionth time, “Okay.” And then, when she was certain Lovino was going to say something, the school bell rang, sending Sakura into panic mode.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, looking around for her schedule. “I need to be getting to class!” And just when she was about to have a nervous breakdown about losing her schedule _already_ , a flash of white was being dangled in front of her.

“This it?” Lovino’s tone was almost bored sounding, but Sakura was just thankful that he had found her schedule for her.

“Yes it is Var- I mean, Lovino. Thank you.” And the bow that came after her thank you was pure habit, something that she doubted she’d be able to stop in the near future. Sakura accepted the schedule gratefully, and the two were about to part ways when Sakura remembered her predicament from before.

“Ah, Lovino,” Sakura called out to the older boy, who stopped his advancement in the office, turning to look at her.

“What?” He asked, and Sakura pretended that it wasn’t annoyance he held in his voice, though she surely wouldn’t blame him. She was holding him up from whatever reason he was in the office for.

“Um, I was just wondering if you knew where…” Sakura looked down at her schedule and to the time, figuring out what block this would be. “The… Art II classroom is.”

“Yeah, why?” He seemed confused, before some sort of recognition set in, and he was scowling. “He didn’t tell you where your classes are?” When Sakura shook her head, she jumped as he swore. “I bet he didn’t assign anyone to show you around either, did he?”

Again, Sakura shook her head, slightly nervous. Lovino looked back towards where Sakura knew the principal’s office was, and just shook his head.

“I’ll show you,” Lovino decided, crossing back across the room.

“But what about why are here?” Sakura asked, frowning. “I don’t want to keep you-” Lovino cut her off shaking his head

“Doesn’t matter. Let’s just get you to class.” And without a second thought, he grabbed Sakura’s hand in his and led her out of the office.

They were halfway down the hall when all of a sudden he stopped; releasing her hand like it bit him.

“S-Sorry.” He stuttered, a new blush on his face, continuing down the hall, sans waiting for a response from Sakura.

And, oddly, Sakura felt upset that he had released her hand. It had felt… Dare she say it? _Nice_ , holding Lovino’s hand.

**I'd be sure, if I knew that you loved me for me.**

Lovino fought to keep the blush of his face and resisted the urge to swear out loud as he led the new Japanese transfer student down the halls to the Art room. Stupid _Nonno_ , being too damn lazy to find someone to show the girl around the school. Not that Lovino was actually surprised by his grandfather’s actions, but still!

Oh well, it wasn’t like he was missing anything by showing Sakura- the Japanese transfer student -to her classroom. He had been sent to the office in order to receive ‘disciplinary action’ [aka: detention, seeing as he was the principal’s grandson] for getting in a fight. And it wasn’t even his fucking fault!

“Ah, Lovino?” Sakura’s timid voice pulled Lovino out of his internal monologue, and he looked down at the girl who was now standing next to him. “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you sorry?” She was blushing again, and for some reason Lovino found it… oddly _cute_ \- not that he’d admit aloud.

“Oh, umm… Well…” Damn it! Why was he so embarrassed about this? “It’s just…”

“Just what?” Sakura’s voice was calm, not accusing, just curious.

“You made me think of my little sister.” There. That was partially the truth. Because he surely wasn’t telling her it was because he’d had the odd urge to hold her hand. “She gets lost really easily, so I have to hold her hand so we don’t get separated and if we do I have to spend hours trying to find her again.”

“That’s nice.” What? “I mean, you caring so much about your sister. How old is she?”

“Sixteen- the same grade as you. She’s actually in your Art class.”

And speak of the devil; they were already at the classroom.

“Well,” Lovino shifted awkwardly. “Here’s your classroom.” He rapped three times on the hardwood of the door before opening the door for Sakura, letting her slip in ahead of him.

_Could I be the one you're seeking? Will I be the one you choose? Can you tell my heart is speaking? My eyes will give you clues._

“Ah, Mr. Vargas.” The teacher looked up from her desk, seeing Lovino before noticing Sakura. “What do we owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“Just bringing a new student,” Lovino answered quickly, like he was antsy to leave. Sakura watched his eyes sweep over the classroom rapidly, as if he were searching for something [ _or someone,_ her mind chimed darkly] before starting to make a quick retreat. An odd, hollow spot started to form in her heart for some reason at Lovino’s actions.

But, before Lovino could exit the classroom, Sakura got a front row seat of watching a brown blur barely taller than herself ram into Lovino similar to what Sakura would imagine an American football tackle to look like, knocking the older boy to the floor with ease.

Lovino landed on the floor, yelping something odd that sounded sort of like “Chigi!” before the blur that had tackled him started talking a mile a minute, if not possibly more.

“Ve~ _Fratello_ , you’re okay!” The girl- for Sakura could tell now with certainty from close up, with an unnatural scowl in her mind -cried, sitting on Lovino’s chest as if she did it all the time. Lovino responded to the girl’s cries with a scowl of his own, and for some reason that caused her inner one to fade just a tad. “I was so worried about you! I saw the fight you were in, and then Francine was saying you were sent to the office and Gillian was saying that you were getting expelled and I couldn’t find you anywhere, not even with Ludwig helping and I was so scared, and worried, and _Nonno_ wouldn’t expel you, would he? Nor would Ludwig and Gillian’s _Nonno_ , right? You won’t be leaving school anytime soon, will you _fratello_? You won’t leave me all alone, will you Lovi? Will you, ve~ ve~?”

Sakura felt an odd feeling start bubbling in her chest. She couldn’t name it, but it was something akin of dislike of the girl talking with Lovino. What was this feeling?

“ _Sorella,”_ Lovino sighed, rolling his eyes, and, somehow, that made Sakura feel a little better. “I’m fine. I wasn’t expelled, nor will I be. _Prometto._ And don’t listen to those idiots- they don’t know what they’re talking about. And why the hell were you with the potato bastard? I thought I told you to stay away from him! And get off of me! You’re heavier than you look you know.”

“Ve~ Sorry Lovi,” The girl apologized moving off of Lovino in a quick movement, skirt swishing as she stood up. She seemed to notice Sakura for the first time, and smiled. “Who are you? I’ve never seen you around before.”

“That’s the new student, Felicia,” Lovino answered for Sakura, standing up. “The one _Nonno_ wouldn’t shut up about?”

“Ohhhh~” The girl, Felicia, apparently, drew out the word longer than strictly necessary. “Cherry Blossom, wasn’t it?

“Sakura. Sakura Honda.” Lovino answered for her, and Sakura found herself blushing for some odd reason, the strange odd feeling she had had dying down.

“That’s such a pretty name!” Felicia squealed, before hugging Sakura, who wasn’t entirely comfortable with it. “I’m Felicia Vargas, and we’re going to be best friends, ve~!” Vargas? That was… She looked at Lovino, and felt yet another blush raise on her cheeks. Oh…

This was… Lovino’s younger sister…

That was slightly… _awkward_ …

“ _Ano_ … Felicia, may you let me go now? Please” Sakura asked cautiously.

“ _Sì!”_ The taller girl released her almost immediately, before grabbing Sakura’s hand much more freely than Lovino had, and started pulling her towards a table near the middle of the room. “Let’s go, I need to introduce you to _every_ body!”

And yet, as Felicia was talking, Sakura found herself concentrating her thoughts on Lovino more than she was on what Felicia was saying.

**What you see may be deceiving, truth lies underneath the skin.**

After that day Lovino had showed Sakura to the Art classroom, he hadn’t seen her since. Not surprising, seeing as Felicia had so readily attached herself to the new girl, self-proclaiming herself as Sakura’s new best-friend, but still. It left this odd feeling in Lovino’s heart- sort of like a hole. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to see Sakura again- be with her again, without his stupid little sister around.

“Hey! Are you even listening to me, _amigo?_ ” Sharp nails pinched his cheek, and Lovino yelped, jerking back and rubbing his cheek with his hand.

“Chigi! Damn it Anita, why’d you do that?!” Lovino growled, but Anita merely laughed.

“You are supposed to be learning _español, chico,”_ Anita laughed, “Not daydreaming. You’re failing, remember? Needing my tutoring? But, instead of paying attention to _la lección,_ your mind is somewhere else.”

“To the what?”

“The lesson.” Anita rolled her eyes good naturedly as she drummed her [ _freakishly long,_ Lovino thought to himself] nails on the desk. Her head rested on her opposite hand, elbow propped on the desk next to the open binder that held the coursework they were supposed to be going over that day.  She squinted her jade eyes, studying Lovino like a cat studying a mouse.

“Something is definitely on your mind, Lovinito.” Anita determined, pronouncing her declaration with ease. She lifted her head off her hand and reached both of them to grab Lovino’s. “What is it? You can tell Boss- she won’t tell a soul.”

“It’s nothing,” Lovino answered a little _too_ quickly, pulling his hands away from Anita’s.

“No, it’s definitely something,” Anita persisted, pulling her hands back slowly, tone turning pondering. “Do you want me to guess? ‘Cause Boss is a really good guesser Lovino.”

“It’s nothing, Anita!” Lovino insisted, despite the heat slowly starting to climb up his face. “Now, if that’s all, can I go?” The senior laughed though and just continued on with her hunt.

“Does it have something to do with…” Anita placed her hands in a classic clichéd thinking pose before quirking a smirk that Lovino hadn’t known she was capable of. “ _¿La estudiante nueva?”_

Alright, so maybe Lovino _was_ failing Spanish, but that did _not_ mean he didn’t understand what Anita just said. Nor did it convince his steadily rising blush that was creeping from his neck to his face to stop its upward movement.

“No,” Lovino’s response was a little too quick to be believable once more. “It doesn’t. Um… _N-no hace nada con la estudiante nueva.”_ There. That should make Anita happy. He spoke his Spanish for the day. Lovino could leave now and escape this conversation.

“ _Tiene,_ Lovino,” Anita laughed, an arm curling around his neck. What-?! When the hell did she-? “It’s, ‘ _no tiene nada hacer’,_ not, ‘ _no hace nada’._ But it was a commendable try. Now, come on, just admit it to Boss- you like _Señorita Sakura,_ _¿sí?”_

“What makes you think that?” Lovino grumbled, wrapping his hands around Anita’s trying to pry them off of him. And Damnit, his blush still hadn’t gone away, and Anita wasn’t budging her grip one bit!

“ _Oíría algo de Gil y Franny.”_ She laughed in his ear. In Spanish. None of which he understood.

“What?”

“I said that I _might_ have heard something from Gil and Franny. Might’ve.” Anita teased, and poked his cheek. “ _Ahora, ahora_. Now, now, just answer, it’s not so hard. A simple _sí o no. ¿Se amas a Sakura?”_ Lovino fought the blush that was still burning on his cheeks, this couldn’t be too hard, could it?

Lovino sighed, opening his mouth to answer, right as the door in front of them opened, to reveal…

Sakura.

A blushing Sakura.

Who threw the door shut almost immediately after seeing him and Anita, crying something in Japanese that sounded like ‘Sue me mason.’

Lovino was confused for a second, until, a minute later, he realized why, and he flushed darker.

“Huh? Why was _Señorita Sakura_ blushing?”

But apparently, Miss Oblivious Anita Carriedo didn’t.

_Hope will blossom by believing._

Sakura didn’t know why she was running.

She didn’t know why she was crying, either.

All she did know was that it had felt like her heart had been broken in half. Why was that? Was it because she could have possibly had… _feelings_ for Lovino?

That she could have possibly… been in _love_ with him? Could that be it?

Well… it _would_ explain why Gillian and Francine were so willing to tell her where Lovino was… Sakura knew Anita was their best friend- part of their trio ‘affectionately’ named the ‘Bad Friend Trio’. She wouldn’t have put it past them to even have filmed that whole thing so they could get a good laugh out of it later.

She should have _known_ that something like this was going to happen to her. Should have known that she was going to get hurt. It was obvious that Lovino loved _Anita_ , and not her- Felicia had even said before that Lovino had liked the senior once upon a time.

The ‘once upon a time’ because Felicia had been the one to insist that Sakura tell Lovino her feelings. Because she was convinced that her brother liked her back.

Well, apparently Felicia was wrong.

Her foot caught on something, and the next thing Sakura knew she was sprawled out on the floor. But by then, it didn’t matter to Sakura. She simply pulled herself up off the floor, and sat on her knees.

And she let the tears fall, unashamed.

**_The heart that lies within._ **

“Sakura, is everything alright?” A kind voice and gentle hand on her shoulder snapped her head up, tears slowing for the moment. A part of her wanted it to be Lovino, but the voice alone was a dead giveaway that it wasn’t a prince charming that had come to her.

“E-Erzsébet.” Sakura managed to keep a mostly steady voice, and even forced a smile to the one person in the school who probably knew her better than most- Erzsébet Héderváry, a student who had moved to the states from Hungary when she was in fourth grade. They had crossed paths by chance a few weeks ago in the cafeteria and had become instant friends.

“You’ve been crying.” It was a calm observation, and the older girl took a seat on the ground next to Sakura, mimicking her position, resting her chin upon her knees and looking at her from the corner of her eye surreptitiously.

“I-It’s nothing.” A small hiccup slipped out and Sakura knew how obviously fake she sounded. But she didn’t want to worry Erzsébet.

“Doesn’t sound like nothing.” The older girl wasn’t accusing her of anything, just simply making another one of the calm observations that Erzsébet normally made when she wanted you to spill something and you refused her.

Sakura steadfastly ignored Erzsébet- not because she was being mean, but because of the fact that it hurt too much.

“Let me guess,” Erzsébet moved her eyes away from Sakura and turned her head upwards in order to stare at the ceiling. “It has to do with a certain boy.”

“Maybe…” Sakura’s response was timid, blushing minutely and turning her head away from the older girl.

“Maybe a certain _Lovino Vargas_ type of boy~?” Erzsébet grinned at Sakura, who flushed a dangerous crimson, burying her head in her knees. Erzsébet laughed and took Sakura’s reaction as a yes.

“So, let me guess,” Erzsébet drawled in a good-natured teasing sort of tone. “You went up to Lovino, and told him that you liked him in a ‘ _little-more-than-just-friends_ ’ type of way and asked him if he felt the same way. Then, he promptly proceeded to swear up a storm of denial and slash or made a _ridiculously_ fast retreat that would have made the track coach weep and pine for him to be on the team.”

Tears unbidden sprang up once more in Sakura’s eyes, despite Erzsébet’s humorous little anecdote on what might have happened.

“Not quite…” Sakura managed to get out before tears started falling once more.

“Oh?” Erzsébet was genuinely surprised. “Then what happened? Come on, you can tell me anything Sakura, you know that. Partners in crime and all that jazz?”

“It’s nothing. Just forget about it, please.” Sakura buried her face in her knees once more, and Erzsébet frowned.

“It’s not ‘nothing’ Sakura. We both know that.” The older girl scolded gently, placing a soft hand on Sakura’s shoulder. “Did he say no?” Sakura shuffled awkwardly.

“No… not exactly…” Sakura mumbled, voice slightly muffled by her knees.

“Then why are you so upset?” Erzsébet treaded carefully. These were dangerous waters, after all, and you could never be too careful. “That means you still have a chance, you know.”

“No, no I don’t!” Sakura snapped with more force and anger than she knew she was capable, startling both Erzsébet and herself. “Because he’s already going out with Anita Fernández Carriedo!”

Their eyes met, and all was silent for a moment.

That was, until Erzsébet busted out laughing.

**I'll be yours. Together we shall always be as one if you love me for me.**

Stupid Anita. Her damn obliviousness was one that rivaled Felicia’s, and Lovino was certain that their obliviousness, no matter how much they didn’t mean it or couldn’t help it, would get them into trouble one day. A _shit_ load of trouble.

Lovino frowned [it seemed that he was doing a lot of frowning lately…]. It was currently Anita’s fault that he was on this man-hunt. Well, technically ‘girl-hunt’ but what the hell did it matter what it was called? It didn’t dismiss the fact that it was Anita’s fault that he was currently searching the school to find Sakura.

Sakura…

The look on her face had been one that Lovino believed that he would not be able to forget for a long time. She had looked so _…_ _disappointed_ when she had seen Anita hanging off of him like that.

Did that mean… Did that mean that Sakura actually liked _him_?

His cheeks burned at the realization- it fit, especially with how Anita [and Felicia, and pretty much every fucking body else] had been prodding him about how he felt about the Japanese girl. Not to mention all the damn hints everybody seemed to be dropping- and damn it, he should have _realized_ something was up when Francine had started making less passes at him than usual!

They had _all_ known that Sakura liked him! How could he have been so fucking _blind_?

Raucous laughing caught his attention, and Lovino felt himself paling and wishing he had the ability to turn the other way as he recognized it, and who it belonged to. The psycho-bitch who carried around a frying pan and seemed to be obsessed with hooking everybody up with who she wanted them to be with- regardless of gender. (She also hated Gillian with a passion, who happily reciprocated the feeling ten-fold.)

Her name was Psycho-bitch to Gillian, but to her friends, Erzsébet Héderváry- or, if you couldn’t manage her first name, Elizaveta.

And, unfortunately for Lovino, she was the one who was closest to Sakura friend-wise, and she was probably the only one who would have a good idea on where the smaller girl was. Lovino just had to be sure that she was in a good mood, and avoid any frying pans that may or may not happen to be swung his way when he asked for Sakura’s location.

“Sakura,” Lovino froze at the corner of the hall as Erzsébet managed words through her laughter. “Who told you that?”

“N-No one.” Sakura hiccupped, and Lovino could tell that she had been- or maybe still was -crying. “Th-They didn’t have to.”

“Didn’t have to…?” Erzsébet sounded as confused as Lovino felt, and a silence fell that was only broken by small sniffles and broken sobs by Sakura.

“Today’s Wednesday, isn’t it?” Erzsébet sounded as if something just dawned on her, and Lovino thought sourly to himself that at least _some_ one had something fucking figured out. Even if it was just the psycho-bitch [not that Lovino would ever _dare_ call Erzsébet that to her face].

“Y-Yeah.” Sakura’s voice was so small and broken sounding, and Lovino felt his heart clench and tighten strangely.

“And Lovino gets tutoring from Anita on Wednesdays because he’s failing Spanish...”

“H-He’s failing Spanish?” There was a hint of laughter in Sakura’s voice, hidden by her tears, but still somewhat there, and it made Lovino feel slightly better… Until he remembered that she was laughing at him.

_God damn it, who cares if I’m fucking failing Spanish?!_

“Yeah, he is,” Damn it, even Erzsébet was laughing. Why was someone failing a class so funny?! “Have you ever hung out with Anita before?” There was silence, and Lovino wondered for a moment why Erzsébet was asking if Sakura had ever hung out with Anita. And why she was bringing up the fact that he was _failing Spanish._

The silence continued, and Lovino felt his resolve to apologize start to wane. Maybe he should leave… Apologize later…

“No. I’m normally with Felicia…” Sakura answered in a small voice after a moment, and Lovino found his determination to leave and come back later waning. She sounded so upset. Lovino hadn’t really upset her that badly, had he?

“You know how clingy Felicia is?” Erzsébet asked. “So touchy-feely, always giving hugs even if you don’t want them, and hanging off you at what may seem the most inappropriate time, in the most inappropriate fashion?”

“L-like what she does with Ludwig?” Sakura answered, voice still soft and a little timid, and Lovino couldn’t suppress the irritated twitch that always occurred whenever he heard the potato bastard’s name, especially when in reference to his little sister.

“Exactly!” Why the hell did Erzsébet sound so happy about Felicia hanging off that potato bastard all the time?! If it was up to Lovino, those two would never have met at all!

…

But unfortunately, now wasn’t the time to bash the potato bastard’s ‘good’ name or whatever you wanted to call it. He was trying to figure out a good way to step into the conversation so he could apologize to Sakura.

“Well,” Erzsébet continued. “Anita is sort of like that. Not as bad at reading the atmosphere as Felicia is, but she _can_ be as oblivious as her sometimes… Anyways, Anita always acts like that around Lovino. It’s normal behavior for her- she’ll probably never to completely stop. Tone it down maybe, but not stop.” Erzsébet rolled her eyes, sighing.

“Those three never do…”  Erzsébet caught Sakura’s confused look and elaborated. “Francine, Anita and Gillian. They never know when to stop their flirting- _but,_ they do understand when someone- especially a close friend of theirs -is off the market. Why do you think they never hit on Ludwig, other than the fact that Gillian’s his sister?”

Unfortunately, Lovino wasn’t able to summon his normal anger for the potato bastard, because his brain seemed to have short-circuited on what Erzsébet had said beforehand.

“Off the market…” Sakura’s voice was soft, and she seemed to be stuck on the same train of thought that Lovino was- or, at least, a similar one. “I see…”

“Huh?” Erzsébet seemed confused again- not quite as confused as Lovino felt, that’s for sure -but she recovered quickly. “Oh, damn it- not like that Sakura. I mean, well, yes, but- _damn it_! Sakura, I say Lovino’s off the market because everybody can see that you two love each other!” There was an awkward silence, broken by the sound of a skirt swishing [most likely psycho-bitch] and tripping feet [definitely Sakura] and the sound of shoes clomping towards…

“And we’re going to find Lovino and beat his confession out of him even if it sends him to the hospital, damn it! You two were meant to be together!”

Lovino’s brain officially short-circuited, went off-line, and he found that he wasn’t able to move because his brain was still hung up on what Erzsébet had said.

Love.

_Love._

He… loved…?

_Who can say where we'll go? Who can promise what will be? But I'll stay by your side._

**I'll be yours. Together we shall always be as one.**

“Lovino?”

Well, that had been easy. They had turned the corner to start their man-hunt just to find the man they were looking for right around the corner. Literally.

“Lovino?” Sakura asked again, and the two girls stared at him. He hadn’t moved a muscle and, if Erzsébet was going to be honest, he looked rather reminiscent of Tino when Berwald had just gone up to him and declared in not so many words [not that it was a declaration either, but Erzsébet was willing to overlook that] that the smaller boy was his wife [in front of the whole school at orientation, no less].

Did that mean he had heard their conversation? If he had, that would make things so much easier. Which was actually a good thing, because Erzsébet liked the Vargas’ and she really, really, _really_ did not want to explain to Romulus [Felicia and Lovino’s grandfather] and Felicia as to _why_ exactly she had beaten Lovino into hospital-worthy condition. That and she didn’t want her frying-pan confiscated again. It had been such a hassle to get back last time, and she had had to suck up her pride and ask _Gillian_ of all people for help and… Never mind that now. That was in the past.

“Maybe I should hit him…” Erzsébet pondered, pulling her frying pan out of seemingly nowhere. It was a [mostly] empty threat, and even though she had no intention of actually hitting Lovino, it worked like a charm, because Lovino seemed to snap out of it.

“I-I’m fine!” Lovino yelped, jumping back away from the two girls- Erzsébet specifically.

“That’s nice,” Erzsébet beamed, arms [and frying pan] disappearing behind her back. “How was tutoring? I heard that you’re still failing Spanish.”

“ _Why does everybody care that I’m fucking failing Spanish?! Chigi!”_ Lovino practically screeched, but both girls were steadfastly unbothered by it. One must be used to swearing, or willing to overlook it, if you hung out with either Vargas.

“So, how was tutoring?” Erzsébet repeated unblinkingly, and Sakura and Lovino both gave her an odd look. Why was she so hung up on…?

Oh.

_Oh._

“Erzsébet, you don’t-” Sakura started to say, but the older girl waved her off, a frying pan flopping in her general direction.

“Nonsense Sakura.” Erzsébet waved her off. “Friends help friends, _igen?”_

“ _Aa._ ” Sakura sighed.

“It went fine,” Lovino answered dismissively with a wave of his own hand.

“What’d you talk about?” Lovino twitched, and resisted the temptation to put his hands into fists.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe _Spanish?_ You know, because it was tutoring for _Spanish?_ ”

“What’d you talk about in _Spanish_?” Erzsébet trilled, a cheeky smile on her face, rocking back and forth on her heels, frying pan swinging with her. She was acting like a little kid tormenting their older sibling for information about their crush. [And Lovino would know, because he had to deal with _Felicia_ of all people as a younger sibling.]

“Stuff,” Lovino shot back evasively to the older girl.

“Now, if you don’t mind…” Lovino didn’t bother waiting for Erzsébet to come up with an undoubtedly ‘witty’ response, brushing past the senior, seemingly starting to leave. Sakura felt her heart plummet straight to her toes; he really did hate her…

“…I need to have a talk with Sakura.” His hand slipped into Sakura’s, and she wasn’t sure what came first- her heart back to her chest, or the fierce blush that raged crimson on her cheeks. They had both flared up so fast that she wasn’t able to tell. Lovino’s hand was almost a perfect fit with hers, and there was a gentle tug signaling to her to go along.

Sakura was all too happy to oblige, however it seemed that Erzsébet had other plans, as the handle of her trusty frying pan came to a [threatening] rest on Lovino’s wrist.

“Privately, if you don’t mind.” Lovino’s tone was deadpan, and his face was devoid of emotion, like he was used to this sort of harassment [or at least starting to get used to, maybe…]

“But we’re all friends here Lovi~!” Erzsébet’s Cheshire worthy grin only grew at the scowl that adorned Lovino’s face at the use of Felicia’s nickname for him. “And friends tell friends _every_ thing, don’t they?”

Lovino rolled his eyes in response, and Sakura bit her lip. Oh, what if Erzsébet was only making things worse? She didn’t want her only chance to be ruined!

“Sakura,” Lovino’s voice startled her out of her worried thoughts. She looked up, only flinching a little when his hand came up to the side of her face. And then…

“ _¡Aquí estáis! He estado buscando a todos los lugares para vuestro!”_

They were interrupted.

**_If you love me for me…_ **

Anita, quite honestly in Lovino’s opinion, had possibly the worst fucking timing on the planet. And she was almost as bad as his _sorellina_ with reading the atmosphere. Damn it, why did Anita have to pick _now_ , of all times, to interrupt?

Well, at least the _other_ two of her little pow-wow weren’t with her…

“H-Hello Anita,” Sakura turned towards the older girl and, in conjunction, _away_ from Lovino.

“ _Hola,_ Sakura,” Anita smiled brightly, approaching the trio with a skip in her step. “ _¿Cómo estás? Bien, espero.”_ The Spaniard’s question was directed towards Sakura, but Lovino couldn’t miss the not-so-surreptitious glance the senior sent him.

“O-Oh, I’m fine,” Sakura replied nervously. “And you?” Anita gave a grin that seemed a little too innocent to be true.

“I’m fine,” She replied, grin now predatory in looks, and Lovino prayed that she wouldn’t say what he thought she was going to, that that was something that the group only did together, and- “But not as fine you and Lovi probably are.”

Lovino groaned as he buried his face in his hand, Sakura did a great imitation of a tomato, and Erzsébet was laughing right alongside Anita.

“Oh?” Anita laughed. “Did I embarrass _los dos enamorados?_ _Lo siento.”_ But she didn’t sound like she was sorry, coupled with the wicked grin on her face, and Lovino desperately wished that Anita had referred to them as anything but _that_.

“C-Chigi!” Lovino managed to stutter out, blush burning furiously on his cheeks. “Don’t try and act like you’re sorry when you’re clearly not, damn it! Besides that’s not what you should be fucking apologizing for!” And damn it, he really shouldn’t let his mouth get ahead of himself…

“Hmm?” Anita hummed, confused, looking back and forth between Lovino, Sakura, and Erzsébet. “What should I be apologizing for, then?” Sakura and Lovino pointedly looked away, the blushes that had started to die down now back on their cheeks, and the laughing Erzsébet was the one left to answer.

“They were about to kiss when you interrupted, Anita.” Erzsébet laughed. Anita blinked, before she slapped a hand over her mouth, a little embarrassed with herself, yet still laughing at what she had [unintentionally] done.

“Oh,” She managed around her laughs, drawing it out a bit. “ _¿Tal vez saliéramos entonces?”_

“I have no clue what the hell you just said,” Erzsébet responded staring at Anita. “But if it was something about leaving, I agree. These two need some alone time-” Lovino didn’t miss how the brunette’s eyebrows waggled at this “-and I have an albino to find.” Anita hummed in agreement.

“I should find Franny and Gil too,” Anita agreed and the two started to leave, but not before two big and _obvious_ winks were dropped in Lovino and Sakura’s direction.

“Great, I’ll come with you Anita,” Erzsébet beamed, linking her arm with Anita’s.

“But I thought you needed to go find an albino?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I think I’ll be just fine coming with you.”

“Hm. Well, that’s fine with me!”

And the two disappeared around the corner, leaving Sakura and Lovino on their own.

**_…If you love me for me._ **

Watching as Anita and Erzsébet left, Sakura felt her courage go and run away with them. She wished that she could just vanish into thin air, like Alfred Jones’ twin, Madeleine, did sometimes, just so she could avoid this situation. It was horribly awkward, and she really did not want to hear Lovino’s rejection. She would much rather return home, go to her room and curl up under the covers with a manga or two to read and cry over her unrequited love in peace.

“So…”

Lovino, it seemed, was at just as much a loss as Sakura was.

“Um…”

It was an awkward sort of silence, neither of them wanting to be the first to say something. What could either of them say?

“I-”

“You see,-”

Both of them had spoken at the same time, and they blushed, turning away from the other a little. They tried once more, but, again, they spoke at the same time.

“I think I might-”

“I’m pretty sure that-”

**_“I love you.”_ **

Their eyes met, and, for a moment, it seemed that everything had gone right this time.

“Really?”

“Really.”

It was sappier than shit, and later on Lovino would deny that the confession had ever gone on like that, but for right then and there, it was perfect.

They were holding both hands, and in unison they leaned forward, foreheads close, noses brushing, breaths mingling, eyes closing as they got ready for that… one… _perfect_ …

“Kesesese, out of the way lovebirds!” A silver and purple blur came barreling straight through them, causing the two to jump apart in order to avoid being run over. The blur’s name was, of course, Miss Gillian ‘Awesome’ Beilschmidt. Lovino scowled in the direction the albino had raced off in, turning away in the wrong direction as _more_ people came barreling past, effectively squashing the ‘romantic atmosphere’ or whatever the hell you wanted to call it that had been formed between Lovino and Sakura.

A blonde blur streaked past Sakura’s side, and the speed that the blur was going [though Lovino would place any amount of money that she had been pushed] sent the smaller girl reeling into Lovino’s arms.

“ _Eh!_ _Ma amie_ , Gillian, wait for me!” That one was Miss Francine Bonnefoy, the second part of the trilogy that made up the ‘Bad Friend Trio’. A part of Lovino was sort of curious as to why exactly they were running like hell was on their heels, but, then again, he wasn’t completely sure he wanted to know. Besides, a different part of Lovino told him it didn’t matter, and that part was bigger than the curious part, thus, curiosity was squashed. [That and his self preservation instincts told him that it probably had something to do with a certain someone who favored kitchen pots and pans as their weapon of choice.]

Then, it was quiet at last… Pssh, yeah right. Just kidding. No sooner than those words had crossed Lovino and Sakura’s minds, a third [and final]- this time brown and red -blur dashed through just as fast as the last two, if not faster.

“ _¡Eh, mis amigas_!” The blur wailed. “ _¡No me salgan con la demonio, vuestras putas!”_ The last blur was the one and only Miss Anita Carriedo- the last member of the ‘infamous’ Trio, who was to have supposed to have gone already… But then again, she _had_ said she had been in search of Gillian and Francine, who had gone by so…

However, Lovino wasn’t able to peruse that line of thinking for very long, seeing as Anita had chosen to race by on _his_ side, and he received an elbow to his head [that had so _not_ beenaccidental; Anita wasn’t even close to his height!] knocking his head forward in a downwards motion. He tried to right himself, but it was too late, because he and Sakura had already cracked heads, their foreheads and noses clashing together painfully.

Sakura whined, rubbing her nose, and Lovino let out a pained ‘Chigi’ that seemed to express both his pain and desire to murder the three girls that had just sprinted past. Sakura attempted to give Lovino a look that read ‘ _What can we do about it?_ ’ and Lovino tried to return it, but they were interrupted for a fourth time.

“Hey! Get back here you three!” It was Erzsébet this time, racing past with a burnished silver glint in her hand, and a positively deadly look in her eyes.

Thankfully, this one chose not to come anywhere near the couple [?] and passed by with no damage.

“That… was interesting, to say the least…” Sakura finally managed to say after a few minutes of blissful [and quiet] solitude. Her hand reached out a bit timidly, grasping Lovino’s shyly in her own, unsure as if the other’s hand would bite her.

The hand did not bite her, but Lovino’s fingers did weave with her own, interlacing and locking them together in a perfect fit. They stared after the direction that Erzsébet and the Bad Friend Trio had gone before the chiming of a clock echoed through where they were, signaling the late hour.

“Oh!” Sakura reeled a little at the sounding of the clock. “The time! I need to get home before my parents start to worry.”

She started to tear away from Lovino, intent on leaving, but a gentle tugging from their still twined fingers held her back. Sakura turned her head back towards Lovino questioningly, who forced down a small blush, and stumbled over his answer to her unasked question.

“I-I’ll walk you home.” Lovino said, before quickly tacking on, “If that is alright with you.”

Sakura answered with a blush of her own.

“I-I’d really like that.” Sakura accepted, and the two went on their way through the school and out the front doors, hands still joined together.

Their walk to Sakura’s home [which was really just an apartment] was quiet, save for the bustling sounds of the city, but in no way was it awkward. It was a comforting sort of silence, and neither one of them had any inclination to say something to the other.

The walk seemed quick, as before either Sakura or Lovino realized it, they were standing outside of Sakura’s apartment building and the need for talking- at least a good bye -arose.

“Ah… _Ano_ …” Sakura stumbled, trying to think of the right thing to say. “Today was… fun, wasn’t it?” Okay, so maybe fun wasn’t the right word, but she honestly couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“If you could call it that,” Lovino scoffed, scuffing his foot on the concrete steps. “Still, interesting shit happened.” Sakura nodded in agreement, before starting to turn away to head inside the complex.

“See you tomorrow,” Sakura reached for the keypad by the complex door, but Lovino called out to her.

“Wait,” His hand rested on her shoulder and she turned around, curious. Sakura never got a chance to ask what he wanted, because her answer came before the question as his lips pressed against hers in a quick, chaste, kiss.

“ _Ti amo,_ ” His voice was soft as he pulled away, a tinge of rouge on his cheeks. Sakura giggled, before leaning up and stealing another, quick kiss.

“ _Watashi mo anata o aishite.”_ She murmured in response, and at that moment, all seemed right.

_I love you._

_I love you too._

And that was just how it was meant to be.


End file.
